German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen reported on Thursday a smaller profit in the second quarter, but still performed better than expected given the challenges at some of its major brands. Operating profit decreased by 2.4% to €5.46 billion ($5.9 billion). Analysts had on average anticipated a larger decline. Revenue increased by 4.1% to €83.3 billion due to the strong performance of financial services, despite lower sales in the second quarter. However, profit fell by 4.2% to €3.63 billion. The company saw declines in at key profit makers Porsche and Audi. It was also significantly impac…